Morten Hvenegaard forsvarer sin ph.d.-afhandling ved Institut for Psykologi

Kandidat
Morten Hvenegaard

Titel
“Group Rumination-focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy versus traditional Group. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Major Depression: a randomized controlled trial”. Afhandlingen fremlægges til gennemsyn på Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultetsbibliotek, Gothersgade 140, 1353 København K.

Tid og sted
Torsdag den 6. april 2017 2017, kl. 14:00. Af hensyn til kandidaten lukkes dørene præcis. Københavns Universitet, Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Institut for Psykologi, Øster Farimagsgade, lokale 25.01.53, 1353 København K

Bedømmelsesudvalg

• Professor MSO Barbara Hoff Esbjørn, Institut for Psykologi, Københavns Universitet (formand)
• Professor Michelle Moulds, School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Australien
• Professor Maria Tillfors, Örebro Universitet, Sverige

Resumé
The objective of this PhD project is to contribute to the development of evidence-based psychotherapy for depression. It does so by comparing the efficacy of Rumination-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (RFCBT) with standard cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for depression. Furthermore, the thesis also aims to investigate the association between depressive rumination and attentional processes in depression. The thesis consists of three papers and a frame. Paper 1 is a study protocol for a randomised clinical trial (RCT) comparing the efficacy of RFCBT with that of (CBT) for depression. Paper 2 presents the results from the randomized control trial described in paper 1. Paper 3 investigates the relationship between depressive rumination and attentional processes in patients suffering from depression. The RCT study (N = 131) described in paper 1 and paper 2 found group based Rumination-focused CBT to be superior to group standard CBT in reducing symptoms of depression for patients treated in a psychiatric outpatient clinic. The experimental study described in paper 3 found no association between depressive rumination and emotional bias in selective attention. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings will be discussed at the public defense.